Semantics is the study of meaning in language, including how it is structured in sentences, words, and locutions. It is often contrasted with syntax, which studies the arrangement of symbols. Semantics uses synonymy and antonymy to investigate meaning and compares generally accepted meanings with possible meanings.
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. Specifically, it is the study of how meaning is structured in sentences, locutions, and words. The English term “semantics” comes from the Greek semantikos which means to show or give signs. Semantics can be applied to different types of symbol systems, such as computer languages and similar coding systems. In general, however, semantics generally refers to how meaning is conveyed through the symbols of a written language. Semantics can be understood when contrasted with another linguistic term, syntax. Syntax is the study of the rules relating to the arrangement of symbols. Syntax is the study of the structure of a language while semantics is the study of the meaning of a language.
When studying semantics, it is important to recognize the generally accepted meaning of a word or term rather than the literal meaning. Take for example the term “water pill”. The term “water pill” is an accepted term for a type of diuretic. These pills are often taken by people who, for one reason or another, retain too much water in their bodies. If we were to look at the literal meaning of the word “water pill”, the term would seem to mean a pill filled with water. Of course, it’s quite the opposite; when the pill is swallowed it causes a person to lose water.
The following is a famous quote from Groucho Marx that linguists often refer to in discussions of semantics:
“One morning I shot an elephant in pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I’ll never know.’
Reading the first sentence, it seems that Marx woke up one morning and shot an elephant. However, Marx reverses the meaning of the sentence in the second sentence where we learn that the elephant was literally inside his pajamas.
In the study of semantics, the generally accepted meaning of a word, phrase or sentence is compared with the possible meaning of the same word, phrase or sentence. When you first read the word “accident,” for example, a car accident may come to mind. However, the term can also be used to discuss the sound created when a pair of large symbols are brought together in a piece of music, or as waves crash against a rocky shore.
Since semantics is a steeped study of the meaning of words, it often uses synonymy and antonymy in its investigations. It is quite common to describe the world around us in terms of opposites and commonalities. For example, suppose a woman named Grace was trying to describe what she looks like as a daughter. She might say, “She’s not as tall as her father, but she looks exactly like her Aunt Drew.” If the listener knew both the father and aunt of the daughter being described, this information would likely help him imagine that she looked like she looked like. The same exercise is applied by linguists when they use synonyms (words that have similar meanings) and antonyms (words that have opposite meanings) to describe a word, phrase, or sentence.
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